<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Senses: Smell by writing_central_3004</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691356">Senses: Smell</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_central_3004/pseuds/writing_central_3004'>writing_central_3004</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RE:birth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fluff, Original Characters - Freeform, Original work - Freeform, Short Story</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:09:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691356</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_central_3004/pseuds/writing_central_3004</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoko comes home to Kiana</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>OC/OC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>RE:Birth Stories</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Senses: Smell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Kiana, I’m home,” I say as I step through our apartment door. I ease it shut behind me and look around the living room, but Kiana is nowhere to be seen. </p><p>“Kiana?” I say again to the empty living room. I set my bag and coat down on the back of our couch. I know Kiana hates it when I leave my stuff lying about, but since she’s deciding to play one-sided hide and seek right now, I decide that it’s fine to break a rule or two. </p><p>I’m halfway through tugging my heels off when I hear a loud bang from the kitchen. I stand and walk through the house, the unfastened straps of my shoes dangling around my ankles. </p><p>“Kiana, are you alright?” I slid the door to the kitchen open and it hits me.</p><p>Actually, it’s less of a hit and more of a trample. Like being stampeded on by a herd of buffalo. The stench ran over me in waves, each one stronger than the last. </p><p>“Yoko, you’re back!” Kiana cries. “Look, I can explain the mess--”</p><p>“What is that smell?” I ask, covering my nose with my sleeves. “What are you doing in here?”</p><p>The elated look slips from Kiana’s face a bit. “I was about to tell you, you know. I <em> was </em> trying to make that peach cobbler that you like, but, well I fudged it a little. I dropped it just now when I tried to take it out.”</p><p>“A little?” The black mush on the floor that Kiana claims is cobbler is definitely not just ‘a little’ fudged. It is unrecognizable as food. Without Kiana telling me what it was, my best would have been squishy coal.</p><p>That’s what it smells like too. A fire being fueled with rotten, coaly peaches. Even under all of the burnt smell, I could still catch a whiff of those peaches. </p><p>Kiana hung her head. “I know you’re mad. I wanted to surprise you though. You were at work all day even though it’s your birthday. I know you say you don’t mind it, but… I just wanted you to have something to make you happy when you got home. That’s all.”</p><p>I lower my hands from my nose and stare at Kiana, then back at the cobbler. I inhale, trying to catch that faint peach scent. It’s a small smell but it’s there, buried beneath the stronger ones. The burnt sugar mixed in with it fills my nose with syrupy goodness and I inhale again so that I might be able to taste it.</p><p>“Yoko?” Kiana asks. “Argh, just say something! Stop gaping at me already.” </p><p>I look back to Kiana and I’m overwhelmed again. Much like the burning smell when I walked into the kitchen, I was being trampled by those buffalo again. Only this time I felt it in my chest. </p><p>Kiana and I had only been together for a few months. We’ve only ever been on two real dates. We’ve only ever kissed once and this was just our first week officially living together. Yet these few months are unrivaled by any other point of my life. </p><p>Even something like this, my favorite dessert lying perished on our kitchen tiles made my love for her grow. </p><p>The stampede pushes me forward and I kneel in front of Kiana. I wrap my arms around her shoulders. </p><p>“I’ve already got something to make me happy when I come home,” I whisper. “Thank you.”</p><p>She hugs me back, but I can tell that she’s confused and a little unsure in the way she holds me. </p><p>That’s alright. I’ll let her stay confused a little while longer until I can work up the courage to confess to her just how much she means to me. </p><p>the end</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>